The present invention relates to a grounding arrangement, especially for clean rooms, and includes grounding conductors to which electrically conductive components, such as metallic housings of machines, are connected via connecting lines. The conductors are connected to a foundation or the subsurface ground via at least one shunt line.
The purpose of such grounding arrangements is to ground electrically conductive components, such as metallic housings of machines. For this purpose, it is known to use copper rails or bars in the clean room, which are disposed and secured in a double floor of the clean room. The copper rails are provided with mounting holes to which can be connected equipment as well as metallic components that are part of the clean room. The copper rails must be put in place together with the double floor. Since different technicians are required for the placement of the double floor and for the placement of the copper rails, scheduling becomes a considerable problem during the construction of a clean room. Since the copper rails are not mass produced parts there are frequently delivery problems. Furthermore, since the copper rails are rigid, there is only little clearance during placement and during assembly of the copper rails. Additional holes must also frequently be located on the copper rails since when the equipment is set up in the clean room, the normally provided holes in the copper rails may not be sufficient. Providing additional holes leads to metal shavings as well as to contamination of the clean room. In addition, since wet work is also done in the clean room, the discharge of liquid results in the problem of contact corrosion on the copper rails, which has an adverse effect upon the ability of the grounding arrangement to work. Finally, manufacture and also the assembly of copper rails is expensive.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a grounding arrangement of the aforementioned general type that is more economical to manufacture and install, and that can be easily adapted to very different installation conditions.